Ticking with style

Clocks are back.

They’re trendy, functional and classic . . . and they’re big enough to crush you if you don’t move fast. Local home furnishing stores are blooming with swinging hands, designer faces and timepieces up to 32 inches across.

"We’ve seen it as a trend, in just this past year and a half," says Lori Henaughan, a supervisor at the Great Indoors in Chandler. She’s watched large timepieces with small, battery-run motors take over. The trend favors the faux antique look, with sepia faces, Victorian-era hands and Roman numerals.

"The whole look in new and remodeled homes is a rich Tuscan look with an Old-World flavor," she says. "These clocks blend very well with that."

At the Great Indoors, there is an assortment of oversized, fauxfinished clocks ranging from $59 to $329. Styles vary from frameless ivory clock faces to glass-fronted sepia tones and even clock coffee tables ($499 for round; $599 for oval).

Shelley Lysaght, a manager at the Chandler store, says wall-mounted retro-style clocks also solve a modern decorating dilemma. "What we see now is a trend toward bigger living areas — great rooms with high ceilings. What are you going to put on a wall that’s two stories high? A standard-sized clock, like a cuckoo clock, is going to get lost up there. A large clock can fill those spaces with something you can appreciate."

Large timepieces also dot the walls of Arizona Clock Company in Mesa, flanking an army of mantle clocks, table clocks and classic grandfather clocks. But owner Jeff Wendt says these are nothing new.

"We’ve been selling them for about 15 years now," he says.

Arizona Clock’s largest timepiece is a $995 Howard Miller model, with 19th-century-style hands across its weathered 42-inch face.

"This one requires an extra power outlet," he says. "But most oversized clocks have very accurate quartz timing mechanisms that operate on just a couple of flashlight batteries."

Arizona Clock’s repertoire of oversized clocks includes aged, Victorian and wrought-iron models priced between $149 and $225. Nofuss technology has made them the rage of late. But Wendt, a thirdgeneration repairman and a second-generation retailer, says a few different clock styles peak at any given time.

"We’re still selling a lot of mantle clocks, grandfather clocks and cuckoo clocks," he says. Innovative "magic motion" clocks whose faces divide and twirl to chimes or music on the hour ($375 to $445) have been brisk sellers. And for traditionalists, the goggle-eyed, back-and-forth Kit Cat can still be had for about $40.

"Clocks are just classic," says Wendt. "People are going to want one style or another, as long as they keep time."

Resources

The Great Indoors

3460 W. Chandler Blvd. Chandler (480) 792-6001 and 16275 N. Scottsdale Road Scottsdale (480) 281-9099 www.thegreatindoors.com

Arizona Clock Company

1660 S. Alma School Road Mesa (480) 755-0616 http://vanity.qwestdex.com /arizonaclock/